James W. B. Douglas

James W. B. Douglas
James W.B. Douglas
Born	(1914-01-01)1 January 1914 Alperton, Middlesex
Died	1 January 1992(1992-01-01) (aged 78)
Nationality	British
Alma mater	Magdalen College, Oxford, St Bartholomew's Hospital
Known for	for establishing the National Survey of Health & Development study.
Scientific career
Fields	social research
Institutions	Exeter College, Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists

James William Bruce Douglas (born in 1914 in Alperton, Middlesex, died 1992) was an eminent social researcher. Douglas was responsible for the National Survey of Health & Development that later led to new studies, National Child Development Study studies.

Life

Douglas was born a clergyman’s son in Alperton, Middlesex, in 1914. Upon receiving a Demy, Douglas attended Magdalen College, Oxford, to study Natural sciences and Physiology and was eventually awarded a First class honours degree. He also received a college Choral scholarship, which enabled him to continue studying at Magdlen, and he gained the further degree of B.Sc. in Primate Behaviour with a thesis on the study of primate behaviour, supervised by Solomon Zuckerman.

In 1934 Douglas started his clinical training at the College of St Bartholomew's Hospital and in 1939 gained the usual professional qualifications of MB.BCh. After qualifying, he worked in the anatomy and physiology departments of the University of Oxford.

Career

Douglas's first position during World War II was as Scientific Officer in the Ministry of Social Security, working as an assistant conducting research into Animal Behaviour, that was supervised by Solly Zuckerman. Between 1941 and 1942, Douglas worked as a lecturer in Physiology at Exeter College. For the rest of the war period, Douglas was a Research Officer at the Oxford Extra Mural Unit of the Ministry of Home Security.

By the end of the war in 1945, with the huge social upheavel caused by the war, Douglas like most people ar the time, was particularly concerned with inequality of opportunity, health in society and at home, and family circumstances. So when the job offer presented itself to study Obstetrics in relation to the falling birth rate, Douglas jumped at the opportunity, and which would later define his whole life's work. Douglas was appointed to the position of Executive Director of the Maternity Survey of the Joint Committee of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the Population Investigation Committee under the aegis of the Royal Commission on Population. Notable members of the committee included vice-chairman, Sir Alan Moncrieff, with Dermod MacCarthy also on the committee.

The purpose of the Maternity Survey was to identify all babies born, during one week, in March 1946, and to use the subsequent dataset to research methods of raising standards in materning service within Great Britain. The findings enabled, e.g. the National Health Service that was established in 1948, to know the costs of having a baby, showed the need to change in rules governing anaesthesia in labour, and the need to address infant survival rates that were different depending on what region of Great Britain the mother was from.

National Survey of Health and Development

The NCDS has been described as "the granddaddy of all cohort studies" and was set up by Douglas less than a year after the end of the second world war. It began with interviews with 13,687 mothers who had given birth in the United Kingdom during one week of March 1946. The sample was reduced to 5361 that was representative of all social classes, to make it more manageable, and enable Douglas to keep track of all the individuals in the sample.

After the initial survey in 1958, there have been attempts to trace all members of this birth generational cohort in 1965, 1969, 1974, 1981, 1991, 1999–2000, 2004 and 2008 to get information concerning their physical, educational and social development. During the 2002-2204, genetic information on participants was also obtained to examine the genetic effects on common traits and diseases.

Bibliography

Douglas published over 30 books during this career. These were considered his most important publications:

• Children under five : the results of a national survey made by a Joint Committee of the Institute of Child Health (University of London) the Society of Medical Officers of Health and the Population Investigation Committee., James W.B. Douglas; J M Bloomfiel., London : Allen & Unwin, 1958.,
• The home and the school : a study of ability and attainment in the primary school., James W.B. Douglas; Tessa Chester; C. Nicholls & Co. Ltd,; Penerbitan Buku Panther. St. Albans : Panther Books, 1976.
• All our future : a longitudinal study of secondary education.,James W.B. Douglas; J M Ross; H R Simpson. London : Panther, 1971, ©1968.

Some of his most important published articles:

• Douglas, J.W.B. and Rowntree, G. (1949) Supplementary maternal and child health services, part I, postnatal care. part II, nurseries. Population Studies, 3, 205-226.
• Douglas, J.W.B. (1950) The extent of breast-feeding in Great Britain in 1946 with specialreference to the health and survival of children. Journal of Obstetrics of the British Empire, 57, 336-362.
• Douglas, J.W.B. (1950) Some factors associated with prematurity. Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of the British Empire, 57, 143-170.
• Douglas, J.W.B. (1951) The health and survival of children in different social classes, the results of a national survey. Lancet, (ii), 440-446.
• Douglas, J.W.B. (1951) Social class differences in health and survival during the first two years of life, the results of a national survey. Population Studies, 5, 35-38.
• Douglas, J.W.B. (1950) Deux enquêtes nationales sur la maternité et la santé de l'enfant en Grande Bretagne. Population, 4, 625-642.
• Douglas, J.W.B. (1951) The health and survival of children in different social classes, the results of a national survey. Lancet, (ii), 440-446.
• Douglas, J.W.B. (1951) Social class differences in health and survival during the first two years of life, the results of a national survey. Population Studies, 5, 35-38.
• Douglas, J.W.B. (1954) Birthweight and the history of breastfeeding. Lancet, (ii), 685-688.
• Douglas, J.W.B. and Mogford, C. (1953) The growth of premature children. Archives of Disease in Childhood, 28, 436-445.
• Douglas, J.W.B. and Mogford, C. (1953) The health of premature children, during the first four years of life, British Medical Journal, (i), 748-754.
• Douglas, J.W.B. (1952) Studies in morbidity in childhood (discussion) Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine, 45, 116-120.
• Douglas, J.W.B. (1954) Birthweight and the history of breastfeeding. Lancet, (ii), 685-688.
• Douglas, J.W.B. (1960) Premature children at primary schools. British Medical Journal, (i), 1008-1013.
• Douglas, J.W.B. (1956) The mental ability of premature children. British Medical Journal, (i), 1210-1214.
• Douglas, J.W.B. (1956) The age at which premature children walk. Medical Officer, 95, 33-35.
• Douglas, J.W.B. (1960) The development of prematurely born children. Journal of the Medical Women's Federation, 42(a), 166-169.
• Douglas, J.W.B. (1964) Ability and adjustment of children who have had measles. British Medical Journal, 2, 1301-1303.
• Mulligan, D.G., Douglas, J.W.B., Hammond, W.A. and Tizard, J. (1963) Delinquency and symptoms of maladjustment - the findings of a longitudinal study. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine, 56, 1083-1086.
• Douglas, J.W.B. (1962) The height of boys and girls and their home environment. In Hottinger, A. & Berger, H. (Eds), Modern Problems in Paediatrics, VII, 178-182.
• Douglas, J.W.B. (1962) Reproductive loss. In Welford, A.T., Argyle, M., Glass, D.V. and Morris, J.N. (Eds), Society, Problems and Methods of Study. Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd., London pp. 429–442.
• Douglas, J.W.B. and Mulligan, D.G. (1961) Emotional adjustment and educational achievement - the preliminary results of a longitudinal study of a national sample of children. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine, 54, 885-891.
• Douglas, J.W.B. and Simpson H.R. (1964) Height in relation to puberty, family size and social class. A longitudinal study. Milbank Memorial Fund Quarterly, 42, 20-35.32. Cooper, J.E. (1965) Epilepsy in a longitudinal survey of 5,000 Children. British Medical Journal, (i), 1020-1022.
• Douglas, J.W.B. (1964) The environmental challenge in early childhood. Public Health, 78, 195-202.
• Douglas, J.W.B. and Ross, J.M. (1968) Characteristics of delinquent boys and their homes. In Thoday, J.M. and Parkes, A.S. (Eds), Genetic and Environmental Influences on Behaviour. Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh, pp. 114–127.
• Douglas, J.W.B. and Waller, R.E. (1966) Air pollution and respiratory infection in children. British Journal of Preventive and Social Medicine, 20, 1-8.
• Douglas, J.W.B. (1969) Effects of early environment on later development. Journal of the Royal College of Physicians, 3, 359-364.
• Douglas, J.W.B. (1970) Broken families and child behaviour. Journal of the Royal College of Physicians, London, 4, 203-210.
• Douglas, J.W.B. (1973) Prospective study of effectiveness of tonsillectomy in children. Proceedings of 6th International Scientific Meeting of the International Epidemiological Association. Savremena Administracija, Belgrade, 941-950.
• Douglas, J.W.B. (1973) Early disturbing events and later enuresis. In Kolvin, I., MacKeith, R.C. and Meadow, S.R. (Eds), Bladder Control and Enuresis. Spastics International Medical Publishers, London, pp. 109–117.
• Douglas, J.W.B. (1975) Longitudinal studies in the United Kingdom. In Wallace, H.M. (Ed), Health Care of Mothers and Children in National Health Services: Implications for the United States. Ballinger, Cambridge, Mass.
• Douglas, J.W.B. (1975) Early hospital admissions and later disturbances of behaviour and learning. Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, 17, 456-480.
• Douglas, J.W.B. and Gear, R. (1976) Children of low birthweight in the 1946 national cohort. Archives of Disease in Childhood, 51, 820-827.

Awards

Douglas was awarded the prestigious James Spence Medal in 1984, by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.